Protect yourself and others from serious illness this world immunisation week
24 April 2026
During World Immunisation Week, COORDINARE- South Eastern NSW PHN is joining with the Illawarra Shoalhaven and Southern NSW local health districts to urge communities to stay up to date with vaccinations to protect themselves and others in their communities.
COORDINARE’s Southern NSW Medical Director, Dr Erica Cameron-Taylor said the rates of influenza, whooping cough and measles notification are particularly concerning.
NSW Health Respiratory Surveillance Reports indicate children aged 0-4 years and 5-16 years had the highest influenza notification rates of any age group in 2025. Whooping cough notifications are the highest since records began. During 2024 and 2025 Australia recorded 82,513 whooping cough cases. And there have been measles exposure sites in the Illawarra and Sydney.
The proportion of one-year-olds who are fully vaccinated, has fallen over the past 5 years. In 2025, full vaccination coverage for one year olds was only 90.5%.
Dr Cameron-Taylor said, "High vaccination coverage such as 95% is necessary to achieve herd immunity: the point where diseases find it hard to spread in the community, protecting both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.
"Falling immunisation rates over the past five years for children under five is leaving thousands of young children unprotected. Vaccine preventable diseases such as; diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis or whooping cough, polio, hepatitis B and pneumococcal disease can cause severe pain, put children in hospital, risk their lives and leave them with ongoing health problems. Children in this age group are also among the most at risk from a severe flu infection," she said.
“Stopping the spread of these diseases and boosting vaccination rates, including for the flu, relieves pressure on our entire healthcare system, including our hospitals,” said Dr Cameron-Taylor.
Influenza can be serious in healthy people of any age, but some people are at greater risk of complications, especially children under five, pregnant women and adults 65 years and older.
There is a new option for children who are anxious about needles and aged between two and under-five years. They can visit their GP for an intranasal influenza vaccine (sold as FluMist).
Dr Cameron-Taylor added, “Influenza vaccinations are important at this time, especially for people who are at risk of severe disease. The influenza vaccine takes about two weeks to boost your immune system and will provide maximum protection for around three to four months,”
From May 15 Australians aged 75 and over and can receive a free RSV vaccination. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are eligible from the age of 60.
Free flu vaccines are available under the National Immunisation Program for:
- children aged between six months and five years
- pregnant women at any stage of pregnancy
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged six months and older
- people aged 65 years and older
- people aged six months and older with eligible chronic health issues or compromised immune systems.
In Australia, all vaccines must pass strict safety testing before being approved for use by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). We also have a national program – AusVaxSafety – which provides active, real-time, SMS-based surveillance for rapid detection of potential adverse events.
All adults should consider annual COVID-19 and flu vaccines which are safe to be administered together. If people have their influenza and COVID vaccines at the same time they will benefit from added protection from both respiratory viruses during the peak flu season, which is generally until October.
More information on influenza and the COVID-19 vaccines can be found here:
Click here to book your flu vaccine today.